Double Standard: Media was All Over Bill Clinton for his Bow but Not For Barack Obama

 

A double standard in the main stream media? Say it isn’t so. It is pretty bad in the media when there is an even more selective double standard when reporting on the Democratic party. As Hot Air stated, “when did the unthinkable in 1994 become the unmentionable in 2009”? The answer, when it is any form of criticism of the Chosen One, Barack Obama.

It may not be the first bow ever by a US President; however, it was the first one ignored and not covered by the media. Barack, it must be quite an honor to have more water carried for you by the MSM than Bill Clinton.

Vanderbilt_obowma

Expressing a servile attitude to
a foreign leader is something
Obowma does with aplomb. Understanding
the implications of this salaam may be
well be above his pay grade. However,
‘Dancing with the Tzars’ points for
the perfect ankle grab could earn
him a “9″ or better for style. (Vanderbilt – ‘09)

Hot Air reminds us that The New York Times sharply criticized former President Bill Clinton “for a mere inclination of his shoulders towards Japanese Emperor Akihito in 1994.”

It wasn’t a bow, exactly. But Mr. Clinton came close. He inclined his head and shoulders forward, he pressed his hands together. It lasted no longer than a snapshot, but the image on the South Lawn was indelible: an obsequent President, and the Emperor of Japan.

Canadians still bow to England’s Queen; so do Australians. Americans shake hands. If not to stand eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were 1776 and all that about? But Mr. Clinton, alas, is not the only one since George Washington who has seemed not quite to know what to make of monarchs.

Guests invited to a white-tie state dinner at the White House (a Clinton Administration first) were instructed to address the Emperor as “Your Majesty,” not “Your Highness” or, worse, “King.” And in what one Administration aide called “some emperor thing,” an Army general was cautioned that he should not address the Emperor Akihito at all as he escorted him to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

But the “thou need not bow” commandment from the State Department’s protocol office maintained a constancy of more than 200 years. Administration officials scurried to insist that the eager-to-please President had not really done the unthinkable.

“It was not a bow-bow, if you know what I mean,” said Ambassador Molly Raiser, the chief of protocol.

UPDATE I: Bow-ow-ow: Obama’s painful missteps

The buck stops with the President. If it was good enough for the media to hold GWB to that standard, then the same should hold true for Barack Obama.

In your column, you say, “President Obama has been ill-served by his advisors and staff.”

The primary job requirement of a good senior executive is the ability to judge character and ability, in order to be able to select people to whom responsibilities may be safely delegated. If these advisors and staff are inadequate, the responsibility for their failures should be laid at the feet of the person who was ultimately responsible for their selection and placement.



If you liked this post, you may also like these:

  • Biting the CNN Media Hand that Fed Him … Bill Clinton Lashes Out at the Media
  • Hillary Clinton to Go Negative Against Obama … Its the Media’s Fault Says Bill
  • Bill Clinton Called Barack an “Amateur” … “Doesn’t know how to be President” and is “Incompetent”
  • President Barack Obama Ditches Tax Cut Presser, Leaves Bill Clinton in Control
  • Paula Jones Says of Hillary Clinton … ‘Two Faced,’ ‘Liar,’ ‘Cares Nothing About Women at All’




  • Comments

    18 Responses to “Double Standard: Media was All Over Bill Clinton for his Bow but Not For Barack Obama”

    1. lg olvera on April 6th, 2009 9:19 am

      After the campaign was over I had hoped that the media would do their job and start reporting objectively. That doesn’t seem to be the case. It was sickening during the campaign how they handled Obama with kid gloves so afraid of being labeled a racist. Now it is frightening to see how Obama has no sense of the decorum required for the office of presidency. This is no longer a campaign. Give up the “town Hall” meetings and do the job. Can someone explain why there were 500 people in his entourage to Europe? Did they leave anyone at the white House?

    2. Scared Monkeys on April 6th, 2009 9:40 am

      who knew that someone other than Bill Clinton would get more positive press?

      There comes a point and time where Obama must stand on his own and be applauded for anything right and condemned and critiqued by the MSM for things that are wrong.

      America stands in the balance.

      R

    3. buster on April 6th, 2009 10:09 am

      The bend over was a simulation as to what obongo is doing to the USA

    4. 11B40 on April 6th, 2009 12:26 pm

      Greetings:

      I think most people/pundits are miss interpreting what President Obama did. It was not a “bow”. It was the formal opening of his campaign for the Obama Presidential Library and Lifetime Financial Security Association.

    5. Carpe on April 6th, 2009 1:51 pm

      Well, someone told me somewhere…

      That is customary for a Sheik to hold his
      liquor by the ears.

      So, that was my take on it.

    6. Susan on April 6th, 2009 4:41 pm

      I love the picture!! I bow to NO ONE :-)

    7. HOPE on April 6th, 2009 9:05 pm

      #6:

      Obviously…

    8. SUPER DAVE on April 7th, 2009 7:34 am

      he probably grabbed his ankles several times on this trip !! he is making a mockery of the United States. the Queen should have knighted him with a blow to the side of the head.

    9. ANewGirl on April 7th, 2009 9:40 am

      OBOWMA—lol

      Another nickname to add to the increasing arsenal.
      What a joke! I’m actually embarrassed by his conduct sometimes, embarrassed that this is OUR, Uhhhgmm…ahhhhh…uhmnn..ahhhh…errrrrrrr..

      President!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While some other Nations are dumbfoundedly praising him like the coming of a New Messiah…there are many that must look at the US now and laugh at us.

    10. rightknight on April 7th, 2009 2:21 pm

      On his glorious Campaigning Tour flitting around
      the world, THE beautiful Obama is apologizing
      for imagined ills created by America. Barry
      claims that the Judeo-Christian grounded US
      are not Judeo-Christian, but, simply a collection
      of people with value-based principles. He avoids
      mention of our Declaration of Independence and
      The Constitution which were forged from Christian
      Philosophy, without which those values (including
      individual freedoms) would not exist.

    11. Susan on April 7th, 2009 7:10 pm

      #7 – Hopeless

      I thought you were leaving Scared Monkeys forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever AMEN, but of course we ALL knew there was no way you would ever stay away…ROFLMAO!!

    12. HOPE on April 7th, 2009 10:52 pm

      Susan:

      Don’t you worry your sick little mind about me, otherwise we might be reading about you on the front page. He who laughs last, laughs the loudest.

    13. HOPE on April 7th, 2009 10:59 pm

      Love is patient, understanding and long-suffering.

      It never gives up and never gives in…

      Get used to it!

    14. Where is Freedom on April 8th, 2009 2:34 am

      The countries everyone wants to live in all have Judeo-Christian roots.
      If we want a mixture, all we have to do is look at those Countries.
      Atheism produced Communism
      Polytheism produced Third World
      Islam produces Sharia Law (Cover your heads ladies.)
      American’s forget that it’s the Biblical system that has given us our prosperity and freedom.
      President Obama’s full bow to a Muslim King, showed a sign of submission in the Arab world, just as a Catholic would bow to the Pope.

    15. HOPE on April 8th, 2009 4:29 pm

      Thank you Freedom #14…

      I get it.

    16. Dolf on April 9th, 2009 1:43 am

      I am a catholic and i would never bow to the pope.

    17. John on November 16th, 2009 9:18 am

      There is an African proverb which says: the man who never submits to anything would one day submit to the burial mat. And another: We sometimes stand at the house of the coward to point to the ruins where a great man used to live. Reading everything being posted here enables me to understand how wise Obama is: we non-Americans quail at the superiority complex, and are reminded about Hitler’s Germany from the posts. Carry on folks. We hear you.

    18. Shaun on November 17th, 2009 11:36 am

      #17.

      “African Proverb”?

      Isn’t that an oxy moron?

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